What is the best way for big companies to face patent hooligans?

To mention a software company called Soverain, you may not be familiar with it, but it is notorious abroad because it holds a few patents on online shopping, the most famous of which is the "Shopping cart" feature. Not only does the company claim to have a patent for the "Shopping cart", it has also waged a lengthy lawsuit against 50 of its websites, including Avon, Macy's, Victoria's Secret, and new eggs, but it has not won a lawsuit, and the United States appeals to the Federal Circuit Court has once again ruled Shopping Cart "patent belongs to invalid patent.

The reason that this is invalid patent, because it extends from the traditional shopping situation, you can put a variety of products in the car basket in the end of a unified payment means, more is the internet shopping in a common sense concept, and not enough to support the name of the patent. But Soverain insisted that it could become a patent, and in many lawsuits since 2011 repeatedly defeated the war, which logically became a "patent rogue" company. (note: The so-called patent Rogue, refers to those who do not have substantial business, mainly through the active launch of patent infringement lawsuits and profits to survive the company.) ）

In fact, like Soverain such a patent rogue is not uncommon, and frankly speaking, Soverain is relatively low of the faction, the industry than Soverain famous large number of great skills, where we mainly mention a few and smartphone manufacturers related to the patent rogue company.

• Honestar Invention

Most people know about Honestar, because HTC had a sudden turn of luck when the US was about to be hit by Apple, not only with the latter for a 10-year patent-licensing agreement, but also by squeezing Apple's compensation quotas several times. The main reason behind this is not that HTC spent 300 million of dollars to buy the graphics chip company S3 Graphics, and not the apple of the defenseless HTC under the mercy, but HTC to Honestar pay protection fees.

Honestar, founded in 2000, manages a huge fund that includes partners and investors including Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Sony, Intel and the Harvard University Foundation. Honestar's main business is to study patents, or to help some businesses or individuals, or simply to take money to search for the future of the potential climate of the patent, to benefit from its foresight, which makes now Honestar has a patent content almost all-encompassing, which naturally will not be the smart phone and wireless communications related patents.

And after taking these patents, how did the Honestar come into being? Like many patent rogues, Honestar is a "threat" in the first place, to allow manufacturers to voluntarily pay, and if the manufacturers do not, then Honestar will go to court, like Ericsson sued Millet; Of course, Honestar also accept the licensing transaction, in the HTC and Apple case, HTC is a part of the Honestar bought from the patent license , it was possible to secure patent authorization with the rich and the rich, and prompted the latter to reduce the amount of compensation.

· Vringo

Vringo has its own physical business-a publishing platform for mobile social apps-but that part of the entity business has barely generated revenue, so it doesn't change the fact that it's a patent rogue.

Vringo in the hands of the majority of patents from Nokia in 2012, including communications management, data and signal transmission, mobile management, frequency resource management and services, including some 500 patents, involving 22 million U.S. dollars, and the manufacturers targeted by ZTE, ASUS and so on. But the biggest sheep that was slaughtered by Vringo is Microsoft, which not only compensated for its $1 million trillion, but also agreed to pay a certain percentage of licensing fees in the future, in addition, Microsoft has also transferred 6 patents to Vringo.

What does the example of these two families illustrate? A company that buys or applies for a patent does not necessarily make its own products, it is also possible to make other people can not use similar technology to do related products, if the latter is really done, it will have to tribute to the former, which is the basic logic of the patent rogue companies, and because most of the patent content is complex and confusing, even difficult to define, In the end, the litigation cycle will be pulled to 1-10 years, and litigation fees are often not cheap, ultimately giving the behavior of the patent rogues a more successful opportunity. There is no doubt that this will hinder the overall progress of technology and industry.

Having said the two serious, we can also look at the other two familiar companies, one is Qualcomm, the other is Ericsson. Why is it that these two companies are also patent rogues? This is because, with the current industry patent war heating up, such as Qualcomm, Ericsson has a large number of core patents, but also more like to pick things, although not become the real monopoly rogue, but also gradually have a patent rogue's stylish. And the standard of judgment involved is whether the patent standard is abused, however, whether it is a Qualcomm with a counter authorization agreement or a double charge, or Ericsson, which is also charging for the whole machine, is accused of being a patent rogue.

So what's a good way for big companies to face patent hooligans? This also varies from person to person, for example, a company like Soverain can be directly confrontational or ignored, because it is hard for the latter to come up with a gold-rich patent to disturb themselves, and it would be better for a company like HTC to start a job with a weak patent, such as the one in Honestar. But companies such as Apple, Google and Microsoft are more accustomed to fighting for their enemies by doing things like cross licensing or investment, which can reduce disputes and get some benefits.

and specific to the current domestic manufacturers to fight for the sea situation, the problem is even more complicated, because the patent problem is one of its most headache. In the case of millet, it was not long ago in the Indian market, Ericsson's kill recruit, it was almost completely banned, thanks to a high pass, but even though Millet is a beneficiary of high-pass patent abuse, the latter's actions are still not worth advocating, and from the European Union, China and Japan and South Korea, The days of Qualcomm's investigation and punishment are far from over, and millet must find new, healthier and more lasting solutions.

So is it a good choice to rely on Honestar and other patent rogues? To be sure, it's not a bad idea at least, it can solve the huge problem of possible kill at a lower cost, but it is also not a long-term policy, because the manufacturer pays the patent rogue, the latter takes the money to create or acquire more patent resources, will eventually make it the entire industry upstream control, this for the deep pockets, and patent-bottomed Apple Microsoft is not a big deal, but for domestic manufacturers, undoubtedly involved in a lifetime of embarrassment.

So what's the best way to do it now? Looking to the future, the first research and development and accumulation of patents is the focus, can be skipped, the most worth mentioning is, such as Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo have a lot of patents of domestic manufacturers, if you can take the initiative to build a patent alliance of domestic manufacturers, in order to face the overall foreign market patent problems The final opportunity for domestic manufacturers to provide a foothold in the overseas process, is undoubtedly a good thing for self-interest--after all, we know that domestic manufacturers overall patent capital is weak is the fact that, if the actual pressure of overseas markets is like loose sand, then may break out, it will never come back.